Neat Work In Third Grade

Writing can cause many headaches for those of us who are working with kids and trying to teach them to get their thoughts down on paper. Writing skills may be weak in the physical production of writing  or thought organization may be an issue. In any event, it requires a lot of patience, hard work, practice and deep breaths to get these skills ironed out. 
This story was written for a friend who went off on tangents in her writing and lost sight of what she was writing about. Introducing the "parking lot" concept worked well. It didn't stifle his thoughts, but gave him a place to get out what she wanted to express, while at the same time getting her thoughts down on what the teacher wanted her to do with his assignment. If you give kids an option to get to what they want to do, it helps you get to what you want them to do. A sort of compromise, yes, but trust me you will have other battles to pick. Enjoy!

In 3rd grade there are many expectations for my written work that I haven’t had before. There also is a lot of written work.

One type of written work is “fill in the blank”.  This is usually a workbook page or a Scholastic News.  The other is a paragraph where I can write a little more freely while staying on the topic I am writing about.  I have 2 options to consider when working on these activities. One would be to fill in the blanks neatly (with no pictures). Another way would be to use the computer to answer the questions or create a paragraph. 

Sometimes when I am completing written work, I get a little sidetracked and want to elaborate on my answers. My teacher really doesn’t have time for elaboration when short answers or a paragraph on topic is what she is looking for. 

In case I want to elaborate, I will have a parking lot spiral at my desk . If I want to draw a picture or elaborate more than what a fill in the blank is asking for, I can doodle that info in my parking lot journal. It is called a parking lot journal, so that I can park my thoughts and refer back to them later. This will help keep me on track. 

I can only spend 2 minutes on the parking lot entry, because the most important thing will be to complete my assignment. I will have a timer that I can set and when it goes off, I will get right back to work. When I finish my assignment, I can refer back to my parking lot journal and spend more time with the topics that I want to elaborate on.
It is important to create legible classwork and homework. When I do, I am able to get my point across in written form. I will also help my teacher’s eyes so that they won’t have to strain by looking at messy work.

As I move up in grades, more and more work will be produced in writing. Luckily I have the support of my computer and Rockin’ Robin, my great OT. I just need to always be mindful when I write to produce legible written assignments.